America's biggest companies: in pictures

Detroit has staged a comeback, and so has General Motors. The auto giant
jumped three spots in the Fortune 500, from number eight in 2010 to number
five last year. Just two years after it filed for bankruptcy and received
federal aid, GM posted record profits in 2011. It earned $9.2bn, up a
whopping 49pc from 2010, while revenues rose 11pc to $150.3bn. GM also
reclaimed its title as global sales leader after Toyota nabbed it from GM in
2008.

No one should be more pleased by those numbers than GM union workers, who
negotiated a profit-sharing program as part of the company's reorganization.
About 47,500 workers received cheques averaging $7,000, up from $4,300 in
2010.